


we are a cyclone (all of me and all of you)

by ginnystar (ginny_star)



Category: His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman, Scorpion (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - His Dark Materials, Daemons, Gen, daemon!cyclone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-10
Updated: 2015-02-02
Packaged: 2018-03-07 00:33:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 3,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3154160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ginny_star/pseuds/ginnystar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is how they grow up. This is the moment between changing and settling. This is the moment they find out their truest self. Life will never again be as they have known it.</p>
<p>aka: how each of the cyclone daemon's settled, and how I explain my interpretation. Reposted from my Tumblr northerngirlchild.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. walter & adara

 

> Somewhere between his father turning on the television and the slamming of a long distance telephone call, Walter grows up.
> 
> (There are bombs falling on Baghdad.)
> 
> There is a great swathe of incalculable time where he stands, numb, staring at the destruction and death that plays out on the six o’clock news. A small remote part of Walter’s brain cannot help but wonder if this is what it’s  _like_  for normal people; so few thought processes running at the same time, so linear in structure, no tangents, no alternate scenarios, no -
> 
> But. (Adara is small, so  _small_ , a nightingale shivering against his neck.)
> 
> _There are bombs falling on Baghdad, and it’s his software that’s helping them do it._
> 
> And after Walter has hung up on the pointless platitudes and apologies that come through the line, after he has thrown out all the builds and tools and gifts that Agent Gallo has ever given him, after he has thrown up the contents of his stomach - twice - Adara doesn’t change, not ever again.

 

(Note: dæmons, for me, are both who you are and who you  _need to be_ , even if you think otherwise. Please feel free to disagree with me!)

A nightingale ([X](http://daemonpage.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=22728)) represents the confrontational,  _beautifully_  vocal and persuasive side of Walter. Ever heard a nightingale sing? Prettiest thing in the world! That’s Walter’s talent, his ability to do something that amazes you, what makes him so magnetic to those who know him. Nightingales sing loud and long, making them seem confident and perhaps a little obnoxious - sound like someone we know? 

Adara settles during a very traumatic time in Walter’s childhood, and at a time when she herself wanted to be small and comforted. Cabe’s dæmon is also avian, and with the way Walter sees Cabe as a father figure, there was an instinctual need to emulate him, to be comforted by him - even as the anger and the feeling of utter betrayal pushed everything else far beneath the surface. (Ugh, shut  _up_ , I have such a thing for parent-children relationships.)

([x](http://hq-screencaps.tumblr.com/tagged/scorpion).[x](http://ibc.lynxeds.com/photo/thrush-nightingale-luscinia-luscinia/hand-during-spring-migration).[x](http://www.arkive.org/common-nightingale/luscinia-megarhynchos/image-G98101.html))


	2. paige & sachiel

 

> Sachiel settles when Paige is nineteen, a pregnancy test kit in her hands with two blue lines clear as day on the display.
> 
> She is drowning in fear and panic, a litany of reasons for why she can’t do this running through her head, she’s too young, they aren’t ready, it’s not right, they’re too poor, they can’t raise or protect a child -  _she_  can’t -
> 
> And Sachiel shifts from the white-tailed deer that he’s been for months (everyone thought they’d settled - hell,  _they’d_  thought they’d settled), practically flying into her face and cutting short her distress as he argues with her heatedly, because they  _can_ , they can do this, it’s okay to be scared but she isn’t alone, they’ll do this  _together_ , with or without Drew and Aegina if they have to.
> 
> (They are, of course, so much stronger than they have ever thought themselves to be, than anyone else has ever assumed them to be.)
> 
> There’s a moment where she stares at him in astonishment and he stares back, with hawkish intensity, and he gentles his tone. She can do it.  _They_  can do it. No-one is ever ready, but they can  _learn_  to be.
> 
> The next day, she makes plans to speak to Drew, Sachiel a new, unusual weight perched on her shoulder.
> 
> (She gets used to it.)

 

(Note: dæmons, for me, are both who you are and who you  _need to be_ , even if you think otherwise. Please feel free to disagree with me!)

A peregrine falcon ([X](http://daemonpage.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=23752)), despite what Paige has always thought of herself as, is who she really is. Loyal, practical and determined, a peregrine falcon (like many birds of prey) have an amazing range of vision - handy for when you’re shepherding a crowd of intensely focused geniuses who can’t see the forest for the trees, no?

Paige, in my headcanon, probably had a pretty easy childhood and teenage years, thus why she settles later than the others. Responsibility stretched as far as working enough to get by month to month, leaving emotional maturity a ways off - until of course, suddenly, she finds out she’s pregnant. She’s forced to grow up. And in doing so, Sachiel becomes who she needs to be to survive. 

([x](http://hq-screencaps.tumblr.com/tagged/scorpion).[x](http://www.utahbirds.org/birdsofutah/BirdsL-R/PeregrineFalcon6.htm).[x](http://www.effectivebirdcontrol.co.uk/peregrinefalcon.html))


	3. happy & bayanai

 

> It happens the last time Happy ever stands in front of the window for the entire day, waiting for the daddy that never shows up, that will  _never_  show up, and she throws a chair across the room and slumps down the wall, knees drawn up against her chest.
> 
> Bayanai crowds up against her, his nose cold and damp on her neck.
> 
> "It doesn’t matter," Bay whispers fiercely, "We don’t need him, we don’t need  _anyone_.”
> 
> She wraps her arms around his neck, and buries her face in to his fur, because even though the room is empty, tears are a weakness (she remembers crying when she was left at St Luke’s,  _crying is bad and drove daddy away_ ), and sobs, because she has no home, she has no-one, she’ll never have a home,  _not ever_. When she finally lifts her (puffy, but dry now) face away from his scruff, she hiccoughs because she’s finally looking at him and she knows she’s seen this form before, on TV ‘down under’, but he mock growls at her and tells her he likes it, so she’s stuck with it, okay?
> 
> Happy settles when she is nine, earliest of all the kids at Maryvale, though no-one notices (not for  _months_ ), and that’s fine by them.
> 
> They have each other, they don’t need anyone else.

 

(Note: dæmons, for me, are both who you are and who you  _need to be_ , even if you think otherwise. Please feel free to disagree with me!)

Bayanai is a dingo ([X](http://daemonpage.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=23969)), not quite a wolf, not quite a domestic dog. Dingos are rough, ready and hardy. They are capable of survival on their own and tremendously cautious in their interactions. But much like the wolf, dingos are wrongly assumed to be a ‘lone wolf’ - they desire to be part of a pack. Much like the domestic-dog-gone-wild, Happy seeks a family, and she finds one/an alpha in Walter, to whom she’s fiercely loyal to. When you’ve an eidetic memory like Happy, every feeling of betrayal in your life is as fresh as the day it happened. 

Not only does Bayanai settle earliest at Maryvale, they settle earliest out of the cyclone - she, of all the gang, had no-one but herself to rely on, so Bayanai become someone she could rely on. Dingos, like dogs, are super expressive, so he became a manifestation of her emotions. Happy? Tail wags, tongue lolls, doggy smile! Angry? Ears flat, hackles raised, growling. Happy begins to wrap herself in so many layers of stoicism, that Bayanai _becomes_  her outlet as well as being her shield.

([x](http://hq-screencaps.tumblr.com/tagged/scorpion).[x](http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/dingo/).[x](http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/news/2011/09/dingoes-originated-in-china-18,000-years-ago/))


	4. toby & bronwyn

 

> For the majority of the population, there is nothing particularly special or momentous about the event. It just happens. Toby acknowledges that in this, he is much like any other - no traumatic event or awkward sexual awakening for  _them_. Just Bron trying to change, and finding that she can’t. Boom, adulthood (or something like it) beckons.
> 
> He thinks he can almost  _feel_  it though, when Bronwyn finally settles, like it’s a tingle at the base of his spine, or a low buzz along the tips of his fingers. It’s illogical of course - not ever, not  _once_  has there been a documented case where anyone has felt it when their dæmon settled. Statistically speaking, he isn’t going to be that magical first case (hey, he’s a genius, but more importantly he’s a  _realist_ ).
> 
> A quick flick through one of his textbooks reveals she’s a caracal, colloquially known as a desert lynx (and  _caracal caracal_ in the Latin). Toby had thought reptile (stereotype: cold-blooded) perhaps, or primate (intelligent, manipulative), certainly not feline (though hey, that’s got to come in handy when psyching others out). She’s  _beautiful_  though, lithe, powerfully compact, and deadly in an  _adorable_  way.
> 
> She knows it of course, and spends the next few minutes preening in front of a mirror - and Toby knows what  _that_  says about him, shut up and thank you. He doesn’t care, and preens right alongside her, running his fingers through her short, tawny fur.

 

(Note: dæmons, for me, are both who you are and who you  _need to be_ , even if you think otherwise. Please feel free to disagree with me!)

Adaptable, perceptive and aware. Bronwyn is a caracal ([X](http://www.daemonpage.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=23856)), an extension of his ability to winnow out behavioural tics and motives from the smallest of expressions and details of a person (keen eyesight and hearing are notable in all felines, so a caracal is no different). Bronwyn is equally as perceptive as Toby, only she’s more  _sneakier_  about it, and a little more quieter. Where Toby is the distraction, she is the action - pay no attention that dæmon pawing through your bag, look at this crazy man who won’t shut up! 

So you’ll notice that Toby, of all my headcanons, settles the most typically of all the cyclone. Not everyone has to have a traumatic settling, can you imagine how tiring that world would be? Toby doesn’t settle out of the ordinary because he’s known all along the sort of person he is. It comes with the territory of being an  _exceptional_  behaviourist, you know? ;)

([x](http://hq-screencaps.tumblr.com/tagged/scorpion).[x](http://www.taringa.net/posts/ecologia/17988111/Denunciado-Caracal.html).[x](http://wallpis.com/tag/caracal/))


	5. sylvester & demetria

 

> Four hundred and seventy-eight.
> 
> It is after four hundred and seventy-eight seconds after his father’s latest hurtful words to him (‘get out of my way, you useless no-good fat-ass’  _getougetoutgetout_  a horrific refrain running through his head) that Demetria whispers very quietly in his ear that she thinks she’s settled, but more importantly, that she thinks they ought to leave.  _Now_.
> 
> So they do.
> 
> (It’s the first impulsive thing that Sylvester’s ever done in his life.)
> 
> They pack as quietly as they can, Demi’s nimble fingers handling what Sylvester can’t, pulling out a wad of notes that they've been taking on the sly, spritzing anti-bacterial on the handle of the luggage case for him, and just like that they leave - without fanfare, without fuss. His dad did always hate it when he fussed.
> 
> They’re sixteen years old, and Sylvester spends his birthday in a lonely motel room, perched gingerly on the edge of a dingy chair, his suitcase beside him the only possession he has left in the world. Demetria snuggles tighter into his arms and quietly recites pi to him, and he focuses on the soft drone of her voice.

 

(Note: dæmons, for me, are both who you are and who you  _need to be_ , even if you think otherwise. Please feel free to disagree with me!)

Raccoons ([X](http://www.daemonpage.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=23823))? Not exactly anxiety-ridden, OCD, ‘neat freak’ Sylvester right? No, but it’s who he needs in his life. Demetria is that side of Sylvester that’s adaptable and independent, even as he is passive and fearful. Demetria pushes him to be the best possible version of himself - and helps him do the things he can’t (flexible digits on them paws, baby). Raccoons are resourceful and can overcome even the harshest of habitats, and so can Sylvester when push comes to shove. 

Sylvester has a pretty awful childhood - his parents aren’t as supportive as Walter’s tried to be, he lacks the self-confidence that Toby has and he doesn’t have the same strength that Happy possesses. He finally realises he needs to leave - that realisation came with the settling. Demi is stronger-willed and more pushy than Sylvester, but they are the same person after all and also shares that love of numbers, friendliness and curiosity that he holds. (Pi is like a security blanket to them, familiar and comforting and a childhood favourite, shut up I love Sylvester.)

([x](http://hq-screencaps.tumblr.com/tagged/scorpion).[x](http://www.goodwp.com/animals/17928-raccoon-tongue.html).[x](http://jdswildlifeservices.com/animal-information/raccoons/))


	6. cabe & camelai

 

 

> In the hot, sweltering Michigan summer of 1977, Camelai settles during their very first citizen’s arrest.
> 
> They are on their way to their third viewing of Star Wars when a female voice slices through the hazy quiet of the afternoon in surprise and horror.
> 
> "My purse!  _Thief!_ ”
> 
> There’s a thud in the distance, like something large has fallen over, and a figure holding a green purse comes barrelling down the street straight at them, feet pounding a heavy  _one-two_  against the sun-hot concrete of the sidewalk. Cammy, a small grey squirrel on his shoulder, twitches her tail in anticipation. For all that they have ever wondered where they want to go in life (and they have wondered a  _lot_ ), in this very moment they know  _exactly_ what they will do.
> 
> He waits until the man has nearly reached them (and disregarded them - just some skinny rail of a kid with a tiny daemon here,  _he ain’t gonna stop you none_ ), and then, lightening-quick, he leaps on the man, tackling him to the ground in a tangle of limbs and confusion. At the same time, Camelai leaps from his shoulder and lands on top of the man’s dæmon with a flutter of white, black-tipped wings, hissing at the suddenly terrified dachshund caught under her newly webbed feet.
> 
> Somewhere close by, and getting closer, they can hear sirens. The fall, along with the incapacitation of his dæmon, seems to have stunned the man, now whimpering in pain and confusion as Cabe holds the thief’s arm in a hammerlock.
> 
> "Wh- _what_? What the  _fuck_?”
> 
> "It’s goodnight for you, John-boy," Cabe can’t help but quip, though he immediately feels foolish for it, adrenaline (and a sudden sense of  _rightness_ , of having found his purpose) rushing through his body. The figure pinned beneath him merely groans in shocked response. Camelai honks in amusement.
> 
> In the summer of 1977, Camelai settles during their very first citizen’s arrest.
> 
> It isn’t their last.

 

(Note: dæmons, for me, are both who you are and who you need to be, even if you think otherwise. Please feel free to disagree with me!)

Not exactly what you would imagine daddy Cabe having, a snow goose ([X](http://daemonsandanalyses.tumblr.com/post/84342225337/analysis-of-the-day-snow-goose-chen)). Tell me this; you ever been chased by a protective goose (let alone a  _gaggle_  of them)? There’s almost nothing else scarier. Geese are exceptionally hardy, sociable and work together for a common purpose. They are a migratory bird, and fly in flocks  _thousands_  of miles to get places - that sort of tenacity, resourcefulness and steadiness remind you of anyone?

I imagine that most soldiers (along with a great many agents and officers) have canine dæmons etc, and Cabe was probably ridiculed or underestimated for settling as a snow goose. This simply made them train harder, work faster, simply be  _better_  than his fellow men and women, rising through the ranks like the badasses they are. 

Camelai reflects Cabe’s motherly instincts, his desire to protect and is a representation of how he is a man who can weather a storm. Whereas Cabe can often be all bark and no bite, Camelai is the bite - the tough in their tough love approach. Cabe might sometimes let things go when his cyclone fuck things up, but Cammy is vicious in her love (because they will accept nothing less from their children but the  _best_ ). She is the one who will deliver harsh truths (and often harsher  _bites_ ), but at the same time, will often be the first to stand up for them. Because hey, it’s okay for  _them_  to make their disapproval known but you try to hurt their snowflakes?  _They will end you_.

([x](http://hq-screencaps.tumblr.com/tagged/scorpion).[x](http://www.birdsasart.com/248/Snow-Goose-flapping-after-bath-_D4I3868---Bosque-Del-Apache-NWR,-San-Antonio,-NMC.jpg).[x](http://www.billdraker.com/cmsAdmin/uploads/_U8Z7160-Snow-Goose-800.jpg))


	7. megan & galian

 

 

> They are at the beach on her seventeenth birthday, one final trip to Cornwall before they’re to jet off halfway across the world. The best care, they said. The most up-to-date MS research and newest technologies, they said.
> 
> From one prison to another, Megan knows, and she  _hates_ it.
> 
> Hates the way everyone looks at her, the pity in their eyes, the way they often let their gaze linger on her crutches or the wheelchair when she has to use it. Galian often becomes something nasty, with sharp claws or teeth, ready to lash out at the world around them, like the way the ugly, horrible words threaten to dislodge themselves from her lips when the doctors smile in that bland, professional way at her.
> 
> She’s to move away from everything that she knows, all she holds dear, and this… this is not the first time she has wanted to just  _end it_. 
> 
> “ _No_ , Megan,” Lian says sharply,  _fiercely_ , delicate butterfly wings flapping hard against the ocean breeze. “We aren’t  _meant_  for that.” 
> 
> She laughs, but the sound is brittle in it’s brightness.  _Well_ , it seems to say,  _then what the fuck **are**  we meant for?_
> 
> Galian doesn’t reply; he plunges into the waves that lap against her shins indifferently, hitting the water with a splash that throws up a shower of sea-salty water into the air.
> 
> And he keeps on going, swimming out further from her than he’s ever dared before, and she buckles, falls over backwards in shock and pain. She nearly cries out, calls for Walter, her mum,  _anyone_ , but  _there_ , behind her eyes and under her skin, she can feel what Galian feels. 
> 
> The pure joy of movement unhindered, as he dips, rolls and  _flies_. The dark expanse of forever stretching out below. The distant warmth of sunlight filtering down through the water above.  _Freedom_. 
> 
> Galian  _pulls_  at the very reaches of their connection, until their bond is an incomprehensible mix of pleasure and pain. She wants him to stop; she _never_  wants him to stop.
> 
> "My God! Megan, sweetheart, are you alright?"
> 
> She looks up into the fear-whitened face of her father from where she has fallen. Her clothes are soaked through and her left hand, scraped raw on something on the shore, throbs in time with her heartbeat. But suddenly, it doesn’t matter any more. Not when she can feel the glide of water across their flippers, the tang of salt at the back of her mouth. She smiles, blinking away the tears, suddenly much lighter in heart and mind than she has been since that first hospital appointment.
> 
> "Yes dad, I think I am."
> 
> She closes her eyes again, revelling in the freedom she can feel.

(Note: dæmons, for me, are both who you are and who you need to be, even if you think otherwise. Please feel free to disagree with me!)

Megan has arguably the brightest, sunniest, strongest personality on the show, completely unhindered by her physical disability - or perhaps made more so  _because_  of it. Why can’t her dæmon somehow reflect that?

Galian is an emperor penguin ([X](http://daemonsandanalyses.tumblr.com/post/100506650268/analysis-of-the-day-emperor-penguin-aptenodytes)), somewhat awkward and cumbersome on land, but beautiful, graceful and absolute  _dancers_  in the sea. He settles at a emotional low point in their life, where Megan contemplates all sorts of hideous options (the testing of exactly how far their bond with stretch before it hurts them;  _then going further_  is merely one way of punishing herself/her family/God). At the end though? Megan and Galian are  _fighters_ , and  _strong_. And penguins can be  _brutal_. You want fierce, protective, loveable and strong as fuck? Penguins. So Galian reflects this ideal for her, is that constant reminder for Megan that deep down, this is who they are, that MS cannot conquer their spirit like it has her body.

The way Walter refuses to accept that Megan can’t be cured? There is a reflection of that here in their dæmons as well. Megan eventually accepts that a cure may not happen in her lifetime, but Walter doesn’t - what Walter wants is make a penguin fly, and he doesn’t understand that Megan can already fly, does so when Galian hops into the ocean. (Incidentally, their bond is the one that stretches the most. Disturbs the fuck out of a lot of people when they see Megan - and no dæmon in sight.)

([x](http://hq-screencaps.tumblr.com/tagged/scorpion).[x](http://www.coolantarctica.com/gallery/penguins/36_lg.jpg).[x](http://www.arcticphoto.co.uk/Pix/OPH/25/GE.0019-00_P.JPG))


	8. ralph & raelin

 

> Sometime in the aftermath of the dark net escapade, in the warm, familiar safety of their bed, Raelin crawls up onto Ralph’s shoulder and whispers that they’ve settled. 
> 
> There is a moment’s pause before he sits up to turn the bedside lamp on, and he waits for Raelin to make her way to his cupped palms so that he might observe her properly.  
> 
> "We’re… a scorpion," he says, a little redundantly. Her tail twitches, and he knows it is from amusement.
> 
> "Yes," she replies, and the moment stretches out between them. She shifts a little, suddenly doubtful, threads of worry creeping through their bond. "Are we… is it bad, do you think?"
> 
> Ralph shakes his head emphatically no.It is hard to explain the feeling of joy, of fierce happiness in him that feels limitless. Surely nothing that feels this wonderful can be bad. (He is sure that if he were to plot a graph between time and his feelings right now, it would provide a flawless example of exponential growth.) Raelin twitches her tail again, and Ralph runs a finger gently along the back of her prosoma.
> 
> "You’re perfect, Rae," he assures her.
> 
> Her exoskeleton gleams dimly in the yellow glow as she suddenly darts up his arm to nip chidingly at his ear in reproach.
> 
> "No," she says firmly, with unshakable conviction. " _We_  are.” 
> 
> (And she’s right. They are.)

(Note: dæmons, for me, are both who you are and who you need to be, even if you think otherwise. Please feel free to disagree with me!)

Ahaha, why yes, I  _am_  being very symbolic here. Raelin, somewhere in the not-too-distant future, eventually settles as an emperor scorpion ([X](http://daemonsandanalyses.tumblr.com/post/107606312394/analysis-of-the-day-emperor-scorpion-pandinus)). Because  _of course_. The cyclone helped Ralph shape his life at the very cusp of his adolescence, gave him a pseudo-father, a way to communicate better with his mother, a  _family_  - what else could Raelin have become, other than that outward symbol of their utter happiness and content?

It’s not all just metaphors, thankfully. Scorpions are also actually fairly docile and tolerant - their stings are their last resort, a defence mechanism to protect themselves. What lies on the surface belies what’s underneath. I sorta envision Ralph to eventually become much like that - wicked intelligent,  _formidably_  so, but balanced with a soft-spoken, reserved personality. A perfect melding of Paige’s heart, Drew’s admittedly  _very_  pretty face, and Walter’s care and guidance.

([x](http://hq-screencaps.tumblr.com/tagged/scorpion).[x](http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/gallery/files/5/4/7/4/9/img_1086.jpg).[x](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Emperor_scorpion_or_Imperial_scorpion_\(Pandinus_imperator\).jpg))

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because can you imagine Ralph with anything other than a scorpion, REALLY?
> 
> (Thanks for the love, everyone. This was a blast!)


End file.
